Debra Giusti-Rose
A native of Sebastopol, California, Debra was a senior at Sonoma State University when she conceived the idea of a Spring Harmony Festival as a way to share information on all manner of Sixties and New Age ideas: holistic health, spiritualism, organic foods, ecology, sustainable agriculture, and psychic phenomenon.
This idea expanded and evolved into the first Health & Harmony Music and Arts Festival (in 1978)--with a progressive grassroots emphasis on holistic healing, personal growth, environmental, health, conservation issues, music, the arts and harmonious living within a global society.
Debra birthed, nurtured, and sustained the Festival as a spiritual mission to present and share those progessive thoughts through the seventies, the eighties, and the nineties; the ideas embraced by the Health and Harmony Festival spread and are now accepted by the mainstream public as desired and needed alternatives.
"My goal has always been to create a utopia of what's possible in life, if only for just a couple of days.''
For over 20 years, Debra has worked 80-hour weeks to produce and prepare for the event. Her first serious indication that she was perhaps doing too much came in 1995, when she discovered a lump on her breast that turned out to be cancer.
"It was a lesson for me...I was not honoring myself and keeping myself in balance.'' Debra overcame the cancer with traditional and non-traditional therapies, and resolved to stop depleting herself for the sake of the festival she loves.
Two years ago she created created a non-profit organization -- the Association for the Creative Endeavor -- to produce the event, and began inviting the community to pitch in. "I've been getting some great people coming forward. It's such an incredibly important event. I hope the community will embrace it.''
In addition to the Health & Harmony Festival, Debra also is very involved in other community events such as the Spirit of Christmas Crafts Festival and as the monthly Mystic Beat Lounge. She is also an educator and performer in Goddess-oriented dance and rituals.
For more information, follow the links:
Health & Harmony Music & Arts Festival | Mystic Beat Lounge |